Category: Speeches

  • Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will commission an impact assessment of the potential effects of the provisions of his Department’s Blue Badge Scheme Local Authority Guidance (England), published in October 2014, on people with autism, mental ill health and learning disabilities.

    Andrew Jones

    The Department’s Blue Badge Scheme Local Authority Guidance (England) is non-statutory and non-binding. We therefore have no plans to commission an impact assessment. It is the statutory regulations – the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2000 – which local authorities are obliged to follow.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish the impact assessment for her Department’s proposals for changes in funding rates for colleges and providers, published on 12 August 2016.

    Robert Halfon

    We have engaged thousands of employers and training providers throughout the development of the apprenticeship funding reforms and continue to do so. This engagement helped to shape the funding policy proposals for England from May 2017, published on 12 August. A survey seeking detailed views from employers and providers closed on 5 September.

    Feedback from the survey will inform our understanding of the potential impact and final policy decisions will be made in due course. We aim to publish final policy in October 2016.

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect on family incomes of the withdrawal of tax credits as a result of the introduction of the national living wage.

    Jane Ellison

    The introduction of the National Living Wage in April 2016 marked an important step towards building an economy that works for everyone. At £7.20, it represented a 50p increase on the National Minimum Wage, and a pay rise for over a million low paid workers across the UK.

    A family’s entitlement to tax credits depends on a number of factors including the level of income they receive. The introduction of the National Living Wage and the consequential adjustment to a family’s award will be dependent on individual circumstances. The first tax credits income threshold is £6,420, so once a household’s earnings reaches this income threshold, their tax credit award is removed at a rate of 41p for each pound of income above the threshold.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of electric charging points in air quality management areas, (b) number of such points needed to have an effect on air quality and (c) associated costs of upgrading the necessary grid infrastructure.

    Andrew Jones

    The Government wants almost every car and van to be a zero emission vehicle by 2050 and is investing £500m between 2015 and 2020 to help deliver this. The long-term transition to ultra low emission vehicles can help improve local air quality, and will also lower UK greenhouse gas emissions and provide high value jobs and growth, but our modelling suggests that even very rapid uptake can have only a marginal impact on today’s air quality problems because of the time taken to turn over the vehicle fleet.

    We are aware that a number of local authorities have been assessing electric car charging point requirements in air quality management areas.

    The Government is considering future grid and chargepoint requirements as part of its planning for this transition. The UK already has the largest network of rapid chargepoints across Europe and over 6000 publically accessible chargepoints have been part-funded by the Government. We will continue to collaborate with industry to ensure that the UK’s infrastructure network meets the needs of electric vehicle drivers.

  • Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on (a) the supply chain and (b) existing infrastructure of the Government’s decision to cancel the carbon capture and storage competition.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The provision of ring-fenced capital support for CCS was judged against other Government funding priorities as part of the Spending Review. We are engaging closely with the two bidders and wider industry on the implications of the decision. The Government’s view remains that CCS has a potential role in the long term decarbonisation of the UK’s power and industrial sectors.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what contingency arrangements his Department has made for the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the upcoming EU referendum.

    Stephen Crabb

    I refer the hon Gentleman to the answer given by my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister on 14 January 2016.

  • Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Browne of Belmont – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2016-02-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners were in open prisons in each of the last five years.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    Progression to open prisons is never automatic, and prisoners must generally be within two years of release before they can be considered for allocation. Public protection is paramount, so the only prisoners transferred to open prison are those whose risk of escape/abscond and risk of causing harm to the public are assessed as capable of being effectively managed in an open prison.

    Indeterminate sentence prisoners are, with few exceptions, transferred to open conditions only following a positive recommendation by the Parole Board. The Board will make such a recommendation after a robust risk assessment, based on reports provided by offender managers, offender supervisors and, where appropriate, by psychologists, with the overriding priority being the safety of the public.

    The following table shows the number of male and female prisoners held in dedicated open prisons as at the last Friday in June in each of the last five years. The data below do not include the number of male and female prisoners held in category D units in otherwise closed prisons.

    Date

    Population

    June 2011

    4,808

    June 2012

    4,953

    June 2013

    4,981

    June 2014

    5,087

    June 2015

    5,020
  • Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2016-02-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the World Bank gender policy, and of whether the bank’s inspection panel has ever been guided by a gender safeguard.

    Baroness Verma

    The World Bank Gender Policy sets out how Bank staff should assess the gender dimensions of development in their work and is an important part of Bank’s commitment to drive progress on gender equality. The Inspection Panel assesses compliance with Bank policy including not only the Gender Policy but also with the Environmental and Social Safeguards, which includes requirements for a social assessment that may cover gender.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total cost to Highways England was of its contract with Amey for services in Area 7; and which other companies bid for that contract.

    Andrew Jones

    The contract awarded by Highways England was for a value of £422,720,000 over 15 years. This is the maximum spend allowable through this contract and includes for inflation over its duration. Other companies that bid for the contract were: –

    • Carillion Construction Ltd
    • Colas Ltd
    • Costain Ltd
    • Martin & McCann Ltd
    • Ringway Infrastructure Services Ltd
    • Skanska Construction Ltd
    • GC Landscapes Management Ltd
  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many families of deceased civil servants received death in service benefits in each of the last six years.

    Matthew Hancock

    Civil servants are eligible to be a member of either the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) or the Public Service (Civil Servants and Others) Pension Scheme (CSOPS) subject to when they joined the Civil Service. Depending on which scheme they are in, a lump sum death benefit of either two or three times the civil servant’s final pay is payable on their death in service, plus a pension to a surviving spouse or civil partner and any eligible children. Details of the benefits payable are in the rules of the schemes which are available at http://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/about-us/scheme-rules

    The lump sum payable on death in service is payable to whoever the scheme member has nominated to receive it (this can be an individual or a corporate body such as a charity). The number of death benefit lump sums paid in each of the last 6 years is as follows:

    Scheme Year Number of death in service cases

    2010/2011 1195

    2011/2012 1119

    2012/2013 1007

    2013/2014 904

    2014/2015 664

    2015/2016 447